The Card of Temperance
by paynesgrey
Summary: The world has gone dark, and more than anything, Claire fears that Peter has come to hate her. Season 4 future-fic. Peter x Claire, Emma x Sylar. Oneshot. This will not be continued.


AN: Written for Oneshot Challenge #16 – Picture challenge for pairechallenge on Livejournal. This will not be continued.

The Card of Temperance

For many weeks, the sky has looked like ink wash, poisoned and diluted with black and gray. The clouds are so thick and dreary that the sun is masked away. Claire Bennet knows all about masks. She's lived her life behind many, with or without her consent.

The world has felt a lot of chaos. Sometimes she remembers the time long ago before she jumped off that Ferris wheel, before the whole world knew about Specials. At first it was fun in a celebrity life, but her privacy disappeared. Friends left or faded away. Loneliness overcame her, and family became more about definition than blood.

After Angela's death, Claire and Peter have never been closer. Peter is the only person she can count on now that she's turned the world upside down. At first, he doesn't forgive her. He blames her for exposing them all, but he knows he could have stopped her. Anyone could have, Sylar or Hiro, or even her dad.

But none of them did. What Claire did, they _all_ secretly wanted it. They all wanted to see what would happen.

ooooo

The clouds still don't subside, and Claire longs to see the sunshine again. She longs to keep her dark tan and sun-bleached hair, and take picnics on lazy Sunday afternoons. It's her fault the sky is like this. War has broken out. Specials have gone rogue. The government is fighting them, and the President has changed his mind for the safety of the nation. Soon, they're coming for them all to put them all in relocation camps. It's Danko's game of hunting all over again.

Peter comes home to his apartment, slips his hands in his pocket and watches TV when the announcement comes on. Claire turns up the volume, and she almost doesn't hear him speak.

"I knew this would happen. I've seen it before," he says. He leaves toward his bedroom and she can hear him rustling in his closet. A bomb siren sounds, and Claire can hear a helicopter in the distance. Her heart tightens and her throat goes dry.

They're coming for them - for _her_. She's the one that started this. She knows that she'll be first on their list.

ooooo

They go on the run and hide in disgusting hotels and it's awful. Peter is cranky and unbearable. He whines about missing his job. He blames her sometimes. "This is your fault," he says callously (but quickly apologizes), but Claire can't even cry. She's so numb. She watches him placidly and silently agrees. She would turn herself in if she could, but she knows it would never end for anyone else.

At night in the other bed, Peter turns his back from her, but she would feel better about his anger toward her if he didn't cry in his sleep at night.

ooooo

They find Sylar and Emma hiding somewhere in Arizona. Sylar is glad to see them both, and he's more than willing to let them stay at their ranch for a few days. Weird feelings arise between Peter and Emma, and dinner is always awkward. Claire tries to hard to be Emma's friend, and Peter makes sure that Sylar doesn't flirt with his niece.

It makes Peter even crankier. Claire can't sleep at night and she retreats to Sylar's porch and lets the dropping temperatures of the Arizona desert sink into her skin.

If only she could freeze to death. If only she could die, then Peter would no longer have to hate her.

ooooo

Claire suggests to Peter the next morning that he stay and she go out on her own. She says this with renewed confidence and hope. She sees the sun poking out of the clouds, and she's glad for the lack of Specials' pollution here in Arizona.

Emma doesn't think it's right, and Sylar seems worried. Peter is speechless, and before hesitating (he considers leaving her, which hurts even more) he adamantly protests.

Claire doesn't care what his decision is. She doesn't care if he thinks staying with her will redeem him to Nathan's ghost. She has to leave; this whole mess is her fault, and she's not going to drag Peter, the last person she loves despite everything, down in the mud with her.

When everyone retires for bed that night, Claire knows Peter is trying to stay up so she doesn't leave during the night. She waits and he waits, and he stays with her and stares at her across the dark living room.

Neither one of them gets any sleep that night, nor does Claire get to leave.

ooooo

"You can't keep watching me," she says bitterly, and she takes pride in the circles under his eyes.

"I can and I will, Claire. I'm not leaving you," he promises, and his voice is surprisingly soft after all the anger he's shown her in the last couple of months.

"Why? You hate me. You blame me for everything," she says. He blinks at her, his lips frowning as she holds her ground. She will not let him act oblivious, like he doesn't know how he's been making her feel lately. It's horrible; he's been so selfish and she can't apologize enough.

"You really don't get it, do you?" he asks, and he rises from the chair in the kitchen as Emma comes in. She sees the awkward tension between them, and immediately she goes back outside to find Sylar. Claire almost misses her brief company.

"Get what?" she snaps. "I think it's obvious, Peter. You want to go back to the way things were. Back to your paramedic job of using your powers but hiding them from everyone else. I ruined that for you, for Emma, and even for Sylar. I ruined it for everyone, and you feel some sick sort of obligation toward me, even though you'd rather just run away from me too."

"You're only half-right, Claire," he says, and his face turns red as he begins to seethe. His temper is slipping, and she rises from her chair and meets him, toe to toe.

"What am I wrong about?" she asks, and surprisingly, he smirks before backing off.

Before he retreats, he answers, "My obligation isn't because of Nathan." His voice trails off, and for the first time since she's ruined everything and jumped off that Ferris wheel, the darkness dulls in Peter's eyes. "I saved you five years ago to prevent a future like this. I saved you from being killed, and then you saved me, many times, and I owe you so much, Claire..."

"Oh, so you owe me," Claire interrupts angrily, placing her fists on her hips.

"No, I love you, Claire. I love you like I shouldn't." Claire freezes and takes in the gravity of his words. She's never seen it before. She's only seen it as hate, distance, and disgust. She always thought he was blaming her, chiding her like a child because she's screwed up and turned their world upside down. And he's never indicated those feelings to her. He's always been loyal and devoted, like family should be. But not once has he ever...

_He traces a finger down her cheek and looks into her eyes and smiles as the world is about to end..._

___He screams at her, pleads with her, and vows to save her innocence..._

_He tells her to shoot him, even if he's not coming back..._

_He saves her from the oncoming train, his eyes ablaze with anger, and in his gaze she sees a tortured man who may die too if she escapes his world so brutally..._

___She comes to his rescue, and he takes her power and her hand and makes her a promise..._

_They steal away the night and sit on a rooftop, and he looks at her like she's the last woman on earth, like she's the only one that will ever matter in times like these..._

A breath escapes, and she closes her mouth. Peter watches her closely as she thinks, realizing his meaning and coming to terms with the feelings that have haunted him for so long. Immediately she feels sorry, not for his feelings, but that she's been so dense and that she doesn't know him as well as she thinks.

"Peter," she says, and something else dawns on her as she hears Sylar and Emma puttering outside. This is why Peter's never pursued Emma, even though he cares about her and even if Sylar is the last man on this earth he wants to have her, he's always been the one who let Emma go.

For _her_, a woman he can never have but will spend his life protecting until the end of time.

"I never knew," she says, and instantly he walks back into the room to her, his arms hesitating around her and desperate for an embrace. Immediately she draws him in. She's never denied Peter anything, and with the world cracked open and broken, she never will.

"What does this mean?" she asks, and she begins to forget about the past. She forgets her feelings and notions that he's hated her or blamed her, and as they fall by the wayside, something else replaces them. Excitement and wonder - never shame - but more than anything, hope. Peter's been this horribly patient until now and finally she's starting to see the sunshine again.

"We keep running," he says softly, kissing her hair. She nods against him. It was never easy for her to love someone before she revealed herself, it's not going to be easy now, and she doesn't mind it.

"Okay," she says, pulling away slightly and meeting his dark eyes. They look drastically different than before. A terrible weight has been lifted, and Peter appears relieved. Even more so, she hasn't rejected him, and it's the one thing she can feel he's always feared.

But she will never deny Peter, not anything. He's the one person who's always been there for her, the one man who's always saved her - no matter the trouble. The world falls down around them and Peter is there with her, standing above the rubble and ready to take her hand. With Peter alone, dreams of having picnics under the sun are possible again, especially in a fractured world that she's created.

For awhile he just holds her, and in his strength she wonders if he fears she'll let him go. Instead, she revels in his warmth, and it makes her think of Costa Verde, strangely enough, but mostly because of the sun. "Let's go to California," she says, and she can feel him nod against her. "And we won't bother Emma and Sylar anymore."

He chuckles and pulls her away to look into her eyes. His hand pushes the strand of hair out of her eyes. "You had me so scared."

She knows he means leaving him, but he must know how she feels too. "I was scared you hated me, that you blamed me every day for ruining your life."

He shakes his head and smiles. "I could never hate you, Claire. And if I would blame you for anything, it would be the chance you gave me to be with you even though we are running. I just had to be patient."

"But the world...? All this suffering? I will always feel responsible," she says softly, but Peter cups her jaw.

"You only showed the world the truth. You were right." He took her into his arms and rested his chin on her head. "Even if the world wasn't ready for us, we were ready for the world."

She likes the way he sees things; it comforts her as it always has. Peter is so good for that. Claire smiles and thinks of sunshine, and Peter finally says, "Thanks to you people will realize we're here, and we're not going anywhere any time soon."

END


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